Author: Corinne Scanlon

These blog posts were a beneficial tool to help us practice criticism in regard to the materials we read in class. Through this practice I was able to identify some of the things that were holding me back from growth and get to know myself better as a writer, reader, and thinker.

The time period between my first blog post and my second was rather large, and during this absence of blogging I spent time with the readings we looked at in class. As I said in my second blog post, “Reading and forming various interpretations is a way to get you thinkING, and writing does this too. Just by writing this post I was able to start thinking about things that I normally wouldn’t bother to think about.” It’s just as Dr. McCoy said to me in her feedback on my rough draft of my Frenzy essay, “actual thinkING doesn’t really happen until the actual writing.” So, while I was still practicing criticism in this time period between my posts, it was not able to reach its full potential. When interpretations are trapped inside one’s head it’s hard for them to grow into something more meaningful and multifaceted. If you spend time writing about them it presents the opportunity for them to branch out into a myriad of paths to be explored, and the only way to explore them is to keep writing.  This is definitely something I’ve been guilty of in the past and still struggle with now—I’ve always been very open to hearing what other people have to say, but it’s hard for me to share my own thoughts. It’s much easier to sit back and listen to others and absorb what others have to say. These blog posts have forced me to get over this seeing as the whole point of them is for us to share our own interpretations and respond to  peer’s interpretations. After taking this course in which we spent the majority of it responding to one another through blog posts, I now realize that my previous tendencies to keep my ideas to myself was actually quite selfish. Much of my own interpretations this past semester were inspired by things my peers had said or written, and in keeping my thoughts to myself I was denying my peers the chance for inspiration. I was wrong to think that sharing my interpretations would not benefit anyone—and I believe this mindset was one of the things holding me back from growth, and it explains why there was such a long gap between my first and second post.

Continue reading “Criticism as a Doorway”

In Analiese’s post “Lift Yourself” she talks about how she used to underestimate her own skills as a writer, but after taking this course she has become more confident in her abilities. As I was reading her post, I realized I had a similar experience. In the past, I felt blind to the quality of my own writing. I think this can largely be attributed to the fact that I am hard on myself when it comes to my writing. Dr. McCoy always tells us how she has high expectations of us, but I think that the expectations that I have for myself will always be higher.

Continue reading “Blind”

The other day in class my group was talking about how we all have different ways that we write, and this got me thinking about my own process of writing. Upon further thought, I realized that it’s not uncommon for me to get side tracked from my main point. Thinking about it in the context of this class, the closest thing I can relate it to is something that we’ve read about in both frenzy and in re: f(gesture). In both of these works, there’s mention of a labyrinth.

Continue reading “Lost in a Labyrinth”

Making art or writing something is truly a magical process—I’ve always been astounded by the ability for something to seemingly come out of nothing. In both drawing and in writing you start with a blank page, and then just by layering some values or stringing words together it can become a full-blown piece of art or a book. For example, when working with charcoal  you begin by shading the paper with a layer of charcoal and then you can start pulling values out by going in with an eraser or by adding more charcoal. After some time of reworking that original layer of charcoal (time to complete depends on the size of the paper), it becomes a finished piece of art. It reminds me of the fifth stanza in Everett’s poem “Logic”:

“From rags and dust, a rat is formed in the cellar. It was not there before. Only rags and dust.”

Continue reading “Putting in the Work”

The foundation of science is supposed to be about making new discoveries and forming theories, and then testing out those theories through experiments. It seems that many people often forget that so much of science is discovery and discussion, much like it is in humanities. For example, astronomers can look at the same night sky for their entire life and make new discoveries about it every day, just how a book can be re-read over and over and still new interpretations can be gained with each re-read. Also, certain technology is required to make scientific observations, similar to how we need supplementary materials such as the Bedford in this course. So, if so much of both science and humanities is about taking a closer look with the help of technology and forming explanations for why things are the way they are, then why are they often viewed as being so disparate?

Continue reading “Consolidate the Disciplines”

The term “lazy Sunday” exists for a reason, and this past Sunday was a particularly lazy one for me. I had planned to get at least some amount of homework done, but that didn’t end up happening. I felt no motivation to do anything productive, and yes, I could have forced myself to get something done, but I knew it wouldn’t be my best work because I was not in the right headspace. So instead of pretending to do work, I decided to devote the day to self-care and watched The Lord of the Rings. I don’t think that anything, whether it be homework or any other sort of responsibility, should be done “just to get it done.” If this is the mindset you have when completing something, then nothing will be gained from it.

While I was watching The Two Towers, I noticed that one of the characters, Treebeard, repeated this one line multiple times: “Don’t be hasty.” In the movie, two hobbits Merry and Pippin are urging Treebeard to help them fight Saruman, but it takes a while for Treebeard and his fellow Ent to speak the Ent language. Because of this, they spend a lot of time discussing whether or not to help in the fight against Saruman. The hobbits urge Treebeard multiple times to hurry up, but he simply replies with, “Don’t be hasty.”

Continue reading “Don’t be Hasty”

In class on Wednesday we read Everett’s poem “Logic,” a poem that seemed to consist of six different poems instead of being one large poem. Whatever the case, in stanza/poem number six the number seven is given the spotlight. Initially, I didn’t think too much of the stanza (I’ll just call it a stanza for this blog) but when my group got into a discussion about it, we realized that there were a few strange things that stood out to us. Lael pointed out how of course Everett would write about the number seven in stanza number six. This is exactly the type of thing Everett would do, and it goes well with the title of this collection of poems, re: f(gesture). It’s possible that Everett had a meaningful reason for choosing to write about the number seven in stanza number six, but I personally think that this was yet another instance where Everett was sending an “f off” towards anyone who supports categorization.

Continue reading “Numbers and Meaning”

Throughout this semester I have found myself becoming more comfortable with group work.  In this class it is a strange occurrence when we don’t get into smaller groups. We are already a small class, but I have definitely seen the benefits of dividing up into groups to have discussions. I think that this method of starting off small and then collaborating each group’s conversations as a whole class is very effective because it gives us more opportunities to unpack the varying interpretations that we all have. Today in class we were commended for our growth throughout the semester when it comes to contributions in class, and I think this has been possible because we have all embraced the necessity for collaboration.

Continue reading “On Collaboration”

In the syllabus, one of the learning outcomes pertains to “what we should read, why we should read, and how we should read.” In this post, I will focus in on how we should read. While reading Everett’s poem “Zulus” I found myself trying to make connections between the different stanzas. After the initial reading we did as a group, it almost seemed as though each stanza was its own individual poem. A couple of my group members and I had to remind ourselves that no, this is not a collection of poems, this is simply one larger poem. “Zulus” is a poem that does whatever it wants, yet I instinctively attempted to categorize the stanzas into their own separate (but also connected) entities. I think it’s natural for our brains to want to make sense of things, and one way that I do this is by trying to see how things connect. While it is possible that Everett wrote this poem intending for it to be a grand combination of nonsense, I can’t help but try to understand what it all means. But when it comes to Everett’s work, this is a difficult feat.

Continue reading “How to Read”

Students are raised to be sponges–intended to absorb the wisdom that our teachers and parents constantly preach to us. When we were in high school I was forced to take certain classes with barely any freedom to decide how my schedule would be arranged. My schedule was filled with hard deadlines for busy-work assignments, all meant to prepare me for tests that didn’t test  knowledge but memorization capabilities. Now that I’m in college, I have control over what I want to major in, what classes I’m taking within that major, where I’m living, and overall just how I wish to delegate my time. The only expectations that professors have for college students is for them to form expectations for themselves. It’s our responsibility to show up to class and make an effort to learn the content and expand our ways of thinking. I now have jurisdiction over what I want to absorb. Continue reading “Desire for Freedom”